Monday, December 26, 2011

Holiday Recap: Here's What We Know

It's been a whirlwind of NASCAR TV and media news for the last month. Here is a little reset of what we know and some of the things coming up.

SPEED is back on the air with NASCAR from Daytona on January 12. Three days of Sprint Cup Series testing will feature a morning and afternoon session. The 9AM activity will be carried only on the SPEEDtv.com website. The 1PM session will be live on SPEED.

The network is still working on final on-air talent line-ups, but Darrell Waltrip has already said he will be there for all three days. That kind of sets the tone.

On Sunday, January 22, SPEED will carry live the NASCAR Hall of Fame induction ceremonies featuring Mr. Waltrip and the other inductees.

NASCAR RaceHub on SPEED returns the following Monday, January 23. Steve Byrnes will again be at the helm and the show has been scheduled for 6PM ET. The West Coast re-air details have yet to be announced, but look for 11PM again as the time.

SPEED closes out January with live coverage of the Rolex 24 from Daytona on the 28th. We will pass the on-air announcer line-ups along when we get them.

No word from ESPN on the role of Marty Reid for next season or any changes in the NASCAR announcer line-ups. A network spokesman told TDP that NASCAR Now will be returning in 2012 but there were no specifics provided.

While the Sports Business Journal reported that NASCAR will be buying back its digital (online) rights from Turner Sports, that deal is expected to be completed in 2012 and start with the 2013 season. Right now, nothing will change in terms of SiriusXM's NASCAR channel not being streamed online or NASCAR races being available on the Internet.

There you have it, just a snippet of the things going on right now as we work toward 2012 and a big reset of the NASCAR season. Sponsorship issues are dominating behind the scenes right now and it continues to be a very tough landscape to try and find dollars for racing.

Feel free to leave a comment of ask a question on these topics. Just click the comments button below. Thanks for taking the time to stop by.

At what point will Speed finally learn that shoving the motormouthing waltrips is not what a majority of the fans want?

DW says that politicans should wear their "sponsors" logo...here's an even better one, anyone involved in owning, or in anyway connected to a race team SHOULD not be allowed in the booth. Apparently, some have never heard of the term conflict of interest.

Like it or not, networks almost never cater to the hardcore fan, because there's relatively few of them. They always try to attract the cssual fan because that's where the numbers are. That's true of every sport, not just NASCAR. As a hardcore fan, I don't appreciate it but somewhere they must have some research that indicates the Waltrips draw casual fans. That does beg the question though, what kind of fan does Tim Brewer and the Craftsman Tech Center draw?

Finns 2112, you hit the nail on the head. The networks ignore the longtime, hardcore fans in search of the new casual fans. Dustin Long creates this great weekly survey and even though he says some higher ups read it, they seem to ignore many of the fans most important requests. One question in the survey had a result of 40% said they hated the idea of both Waltrips on the broadcast. No disliked, HATED, yet they do it anyway. Go figure. Makes a fan like me who really loves racing feel hopeless. Not looking forward to the buffoon brothers bloviating on the broadcasts. Wayne

The Wals must have an inside source that feeds them information they use to blackmail the powers at the networks. I can think of no other reason they would still be on TV bloviating with useless misinformation. I was sick of DW by the time he won his first race. It's a shame I have had to suffer him through all these many years just because I enjoy racing.

sbaker17,ha, I agree with you, but I'll bet the last fans will leave long before the Waltrips and Wallaces, along with the networks paying their salaries get the message. If they would be professional and talk about the race, I'd be fine - the current way the broadcasts are run however annoy me.

Happy to hear that Steve will be back with RaceHub. Sorry that they decided 6 pm is still the time, that timeframe guarantees I have to DVR it since that doesn't work for me to get home. A re-air at 11 p.m. helps from that point of view at least.

LOL, Jerry, anyone who's a long time fan of ANY driver that others don't like has to develop a thicker skin. Heck, I'm a Jeff Gordon fan -- I've had things thrown at me at racetracks. JD doesn't let any one get out of hand with any "bashing", that's why this blog is such a great place to talk.

As JD pointed out, I "like" DW under certain circumstances, I love some of the old timer story shows and when he's relaxed, but not when he and his brother dominate a broadcast without considering that as a fan, I tuned in to watch and hear a race called, not be a part of DW or whatever driver/mfg he is cheering for fan club, then they lose me.

Come mid-January NASCAR testing TV coverage is a breath of fresh air for this old guy that is not a fan of stick and ball sports.

Regarding the Waltrips, Michael is someone I can not stand in the broadcast booth. Darrell is enjoyable for me, especially when he's with Mike Joy and Larry McReynolds. That is my favorite announcing team for NASCAR CUP racing.

The two best commentators out there are Ricky Craven and Mark Garrow. This would be a great opportunity for NASCAR and Speed / ESPN / Fox to put them together during a test session and see how they do. Anyone listening? Bueller? Anyone?